Half a Dozen Firms Vie to Furnish Condo Houses with Elevators

The procurement could cost the city administration an estimated 134 million Br

Six local companies are vying to supply 82 elevators with an estimated cost of 134 million Br for housing units being built for middle-lower income housing schemes.

Six local companies are vying to supply 82 elevators with an estimated cost of 134 million Br for housing units being built for middle-lower income housing schemes.

Racrob Business, Sintec Ethiopia, Mekong General Trading, Desta Alem, Dan Lift Technology and Tsemex Global Enterprise are the companies that qualified during the preliminary screening stage to supply elevators for the project. The elevators, which are divided into two lots, will be installed in seven-storey and 12-storey buildings.

The procurement process is being conducted by the city’s Public Procurement & Properties Disposal Agency (PPPDA) on behalf of Addis Abeba Construction & Housing Development Project Office. The office is constructing 94,000 housing units in two phases, comprising of 52,651 and 41,421 units, and at 15 different sites within the city. Close to 677,000 inhabitants, roughly one-fifth of the city’s population, are registered to receive housing under the scheme.

The winning company will supply 22 Machine Room Passenger Elevators, elevators that are installed in a hoistway inside the buildings; and 60 other elevators, Machine Room-less passenger Lifts, which will be installed outside the buildings.

The current tender is a re-bid of an earlier bid floated in October 2017. During this initial bid, 198 elevators were floated, and only 116 were contracted. The current tender is for the remaining 82 elevators and was floated on May 25, 2018, where 36 companies expressed interest by purchasing bid documents for the project. However, only seven companies made technical and financial offers during the bid opening on July 12, 2018. One company, XiZi Elevator, was disqualified as its bid package arrived a minute late after the bid was closed.

Except for Desta Alem, who bid for a single lot, the other five companies made offers for both lots.

“Results of the technical evaluation will be announced within four months time,” said Yirgalem Woldu, chairperson of the bidding committee. “But, we will announce the result in a shorter time if there are no complaints and mismatches with the bid requirements.”

The initial tender of October 2017 was for 198 elevators consisting of three lots – 128 hoistway elevators to be installed inside, and 70 other elevators to be installed outside of buildings. Forty nine companies purchased bid documents and only nine firms submitted technical and financial offers. Two of the nine offerors were disqualified during the preliminary evaluation due to incomplete document submissions.

Two other companies, Sintec Ethiopia and Dan Lift Technology, reached the final financial evaluation stages. Later, Dan Lift, a 400-person company with almost two decades of experience installing 700 elevators, won the bid to supply 116 elevators at a bid price of 171.9 million.

Although both Sintec Ethiopia and Dan Lift qualified the technical evaluation and passed to the financial review stages, their bid offers for 82 elevators were rejected because they were deemed to be overpriced and above the existing market prices, according to Getacher Kassa, team leader of Procurement at the Agency, leading to the July 2018 bid.

Elevators are convenient for people with disabilities and can carry heavy loads that residents bring to their units, according to Abebe Dinku (Prof.), a civil engineer with three decades of experience at Addis Abeba University (AAU).

“Plus, due attention for the usage of the elevators should be given after installation,” Abebe said, “full-time maintenance technicians should be hired to maintain in case of breakdowns.”

The first phase of the housing construction has reached 80pc completion, while the second phase currently stands at 60pc, according to Andinet Sileshi, team leader at the project office.